3 early trade deadline rumors featuring the Minnesota Timberwolves

The sneaky-good name connected to the Minnesota Timberwolves: Larry Nance

The Wolves have been connected to Larry Nance Jr. heavily since draft night. Now, Chris Fedor of The Cleveland Plain Dealer has the Wolves still in the running for the Cavaliers big man.

Nance is the best defender of the trio, but he would also almost certainly make the least impact offensively.

Nance is No. 3 among power forwards in DRPM so far this season, although he’s only played in roughly half of Cleveland’s games due to a fractured hand. He would provide the perfect style of defender and physical profile to defend the pick-and-roll in the Wolves’ drop coverage scheme.

As noted by Fedor, Nance is apparently friends with D’Angelo Russell, who has advocated for the Wolves to deal for the Cavs big man.

He’s a veteran with playoff experience and the Wolves would have him at an affordable cost in his prime. Nance is owed a little over $20.3 million over the next two years — not a bad price to pay for a synergistic frontcourt fit next to Towns.

It remains to be seen what the cost to acquire Nance would be; his contract status could mean that the Cavaliers are able to ask for something in the neighborhood of what the other, bigger-name big men on this list could fetch.

While Nance is not a “third star”, he would bring something that the Wolves simply don’t have: positive, two-way production from a key role player. This side of getting Russell and Towns on the floor together, the Wolves’ biggest issue has been getting value on both ends of the floor from anyone not named Towns.

Josh Okogie and Jarrett Culver have been all-defense, no-offense, and their individual defensive performances this year have not been nearly enough to outweigh their offensive issues. Beasley, Jaylen Nowell, and Naz Reid have, on varying levels, been great offensively but sieves on defense.

Ricky Rubio, Jake Layman and Juancho Hernangomez have been disappointing on both ends of the floor. Anthony Edwards has shown flashes on both offense and defense but has been maddeningly inconsistent. Jaden McDaniels hasn’t done much offensively but has been great in stretches on defense.

Nance could provide solid production on offense and be a second pick-and-roll partner for Russell. Defensively, he could be something of a game-changer for the Wolves, helping to cover for Towns and adding another switchable big to the mix.

If we know anything about Gersson Rosas and this iteration of the Timberwolves’ front office, it’s that they are itching to make a move. Sitting at 7-29 and in the basement of the entire NBA, it’s fair to assume that they’re going to do what they can to do just that.